Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East - Paperbackby Joel Beinin (Author) The working people, who constitute the majority in any society, can be and deserve to be subjects of history. Joel Beinin's state of the art survey of subaltern history in the Middle East demonstrates lucidly how their lives, experiences, and culture can inform our historical understanding. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the book charts the history of the peasants and the modern working classes across the lands of the